The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-10-12
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "a Straight Ur and Down
Religion"


fascination. Walk about some of the trium
phial arches and the cathedrals, 400 or 6O(
years old, and see them stand for centuries
as erect as when they were buiided, walls o
great height not Eending a quarter Of al
inch this way or that. So greatly honorec
were the masons who builded these walls thai
they were free from taxation and called free
masons. The trowel gets most of the credit
for these buildings, and its clear ringing or
stone and brick has sounded across the ages
But there is another implement of just as
much Importance as the trowel, and my text
recognizes it. Bricklayers, and stone maSons,
and carpenters, in the building of walls, use
an instrument made of a cord, at the end OF
which lump of lead is fastened. They drop
1t over the side of the wall, and as the plum
met naturally seeks the centre OF gravity
in the Garth the workman discovers
where the wall recedes, and where
it bulges out, and just what is the perpendicu-
lar. Our text represents God as standing on
the wall of character, which the Israelltes
had built, and in that way measuring it.
"And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what
-seest thou? and said, A plumb line"
What the world wants is a straight up and
of the day bends this way and that, to suit
the times. It is horizontal with a low state
of sentiment and morals. We have all been
building wall Of character, and it is glar-
jngly imperfect and needs reconstruction.
How shall it be brought into the perpendicu-
lar! Only by the divine measurement And
the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest
thou? and I said, A plumb line"
The whole tendency of the times is to make
US act by the standard Of what others do
II they play cards, we play cards. If they
dance, we dance. If they read certain styles
of books, we read them. We throw over the
wall of our character tine tangled plumb-line
Of other lives ard reject the infallible test
which Amos saw. The QUESTION for me should
not be what you think is right, but what God
thinks is right. This perpetual reference to the
thing but human fallibility. is mistake as
wide MS the world. There are 0,O0 plumb
lines in use, but only one is true and exact,
and that is the line of Gods eternal right.
There is a E1ighty attempt being made to re-
construct and fix up the Ten Commandments.
To many they seem too rigid. The tower OF
Pisa leans over about thirteen feet from the
perpendicular, and people 60 thousands of
miles to see its graceful inclination, and by
extra braces and various architectural con-
trivances it is kept leaning from century to
century. Why not have the ten granite
blocks of Sinai set a little aslant? Why not
have the pillar of truth a leaning tower'
Why is not an ellipse as good as square?
Why is not an oblique as good as straight up
and down3 My friends, we must have
STANDARD; shall it be Gods or mans9
The divine plumb-line needs to be thrown
over all merchandise. Thousands of years
ago Solomon discovered the tendency of buy
ers to depreciate goods. He saw aman beat
ing down an article lower and lower, and say
ing it was not worth the price asked, and
when he b I'd purchased at the lowest point he
told everybody what sharp bargain he had
truck, and how he ha outwitted the mer-
{lant. Proverbs Xxx, IA: ut is nau5ht, it IS
naught, saith the buyer. but when he Is gone
his way then he boasteth." So utterly askew
Is society in this manner that you seldom find
seller asking the price that he expects to
get. He puts on higher value than ne pro-
Doses to receive, knowing that he will have
to drop. If he wants fifty he asks seventy
five. And if he wants 1000 he asks 9, 500. st
is naught," saith the buyer. "The fabric is
defective; the style Of goods is poor; can get
elsewhere better article at smaller price;
1t is out of fashion; it is damaged it will fade;
It viii not wear we'll" After a while the
m,rchart, from over-persuasion or from de-
sire 10 dispose Of that particular stock Of
goods. says: "Well, take it at your own
price," and the purchaser goes home with
light step and calls into his private office his
confidential friends, and chuckles while he
tells how that for half price he got the goods.
In other words, he lies and is proud Of it.
Notnlng ~ouiu make tinleS as Sooa, anu 1iIe
earning of a livlihood 50 easy, as the unlVer-
sal adoption of the law Of right. Suspicion
strikes through all bargain making. Men
who sell know not whether they will ever
get the money Purchasers know not
whether the goods shipped will be in accord
ing to the sample, and what, with the large
number of clerks who are making false entries
and then absconding to Canada, and the ex-
ploson of firms that fail for millions of dol
of thoir tc,
make living. He who stands up amid all
the pressure and does right is accomplishing
something toward the establishment Of high
commercial prosperity. l have deep SYM
pathy for the laboring classes who toll with
hand and foot. But we must not forget the
business men who, without any complaint or
hammered professions through the street, are
enduring a stress of circumstances terrific.
The fortunate people of to-day are those who
are receiving daily wages or regular salaries.
And the men most to be pitied are those who
conduct a business while prices are falling,
and yet try to pay their clerks and employees,
and are in such fearful straits that they
would quit business tomorrow if it were not
for the wreck and ruin of Others. When
people tell me at what a ruinouSly low price
Lney purchased an article It gives me more
dismay than satisfaction. I know it means
the bankruptcy and defalcation Of men in
many departments. The men who toll with
the brain need full as much sympathy a.
those who toll with the hands. All business
life is struck through with suspicion, and
panics are only the result Of want Of conf
dence.
The pressure to do wrong is all the stronger
from the fact that in our day the large bust
ness houses are swallowing up the smaller
the whales dining on bluefish and minnows
The large houses undersell the small ones be
cause they can afford it. They can afford tc
make nothing, or actually lose, on some styles
OF goods, assured they can make it up or
others So great dry goods house goes out
side Of its regular line and sells books at cost
or less than cost, and that swamps the book
sellers; or thedry goods house sells bric-a-brat
dealer in bric-a-brac. And the same thing
goes on in other styles of merchandise, and
the consequence is that all along the
business streets Of all our cities there
are merchants Of small capital who are
in terrific struggle to keep their heads
above water. The Cunarders run down
the Newfoundland fishing smacks. This is
nothing against the man who has the big
store, for every man has as large store ano
as great business as he can manage. Tt
feel right and do right under all this pressure
requires martyr grace, requires divine sup
port, requires celestial reinforcement. Yet
there are tens of thousands of such mer
getting splendidly through. They see other:
going up and themselves going down, bu
they keep their patience and their courage
and their Christian consistency. and after {
while their turn of success will come. The
owners of the big business will die and thei!
boys will get possession of the business, and
with cigar in the mouth, and full to the
shin with the best liquor, and behind ,Pair
If spanking bays they will pass everything
on the turnpike road to temporal and eternal
perdition. Then the business will break up
and the smaller dealers will have fair oppor.
tunity. Or the spirit Of contentment and